Celebrating a British icon 71
to London United in September
2000 upon retendering. A night
service began in 2015.
Metroline West was awarded
the contract to run the route
from 16 September and
operation reverted to Uxbridge,
although vehicles are based
at the outstation on Uxbridge
Industrial Estate.Country connections
Country area routes 347 and
348 linked Uxbridge with
Watford and Hemel Hempstead,
but the level of service declined
over the years and in 1994
Arriva the Shires withdrew the
section between Northwood and
Uxbridge. The remaining section,
by then running only as far as
Watford, was renumbered 8 in
September 2000.
London Buses introduced route
331 to cover the Northwood-
Uxbridge section together with
parts of route U1 between Ruislip
and Harefield. This links severalcommunities with a fairly rural
feel on the edge of Greater
London and crosses the border
four times.
It was initially operated by
Arriva the Shires but passed to
CentreWest on retendering in
July 1996 and has been operated
from Uxbridge garage ever since.
In 2015, Metroline West took
delivery of 10.8m Alexander
Dennis Enviro200 MMC single-
deckers for route 487 (Willesden
Junction-South Harrow). They
turned out to be too long to
negotiate one turn on the route,
so after a period in storage,
they were allocated to Uxbridge
instead. Although they appear
on any of its single-deck routes,
they tend to make up most of the
allocation on route 331.
In 1901 London United
Tramways, introduced London’s
first electric trams on routes that
included one between Shepherd’s
Bush and Acton over a stretch
of line served by horse-drawntrams since 1876. An extension
to Uxbridge followed three years
later and in November 1936
trolleybus route 607 replaced
tram route 7.
When diesel buses took over on
9 November 1960, the route was
renumbered 207 and continued
to operate from Hanwell depot.
The following year Uxbridge
garage began to provide a small
proportion of the buses on the
207, initially only on Sundays.
In April 2005 the 207
was altered to run between
Shepherd’s Bush and Hayes End,
with new route 427 covering
the section between Acton and
Uxbridge. Although Greenford
garage provides most of the
buses, Uxbridge provides a
few to operate later evening
services. This is largely for
operational reasons, as Uxbridge
also operated night route N207
between Uxbridge and Holborn.
The 607 number from the
trolleybuses was resurrected
in 1990 for a new Monday to
Saturday limited stop variation of
route 207. Operation was shared
initially by Hanwell and Uxbridge
but since 1991 has been provided
solely by Uxbridge garage. Until
1995, specially branded Leyland
National 2 and Leyland Lynx
single-deckers were used, then
new Northern Counties-bodied
Volvo Olympian double-deckers
in a modified livery.
On 29 November 2008 it was
extended from Shepherd’s Bush
Green to White City bus station
to coincide with the opening of
the Westfield London shopping
centre and a Sunday service was
introduced on 11 April 2010.
Route A10 (Uxbridge-Heathrow
Airport) was introduced in 1996
to provide a fast link to the new
Stockley Park business park and
Heathrow Airport. The initial
contract was awarded to London
Buslines, which First CentreWest
purchased before the route
started. Uxbridge has operated it
from the start.
The first buses for the A10
were painted blue and yellow
with route branding. Today’s
are allover red like most other
London buses, but the A10 was
one of 12 routes in the HayesLondon Bus Garages
ABOVE LEFT:
First-liveried
CentreWest
TNL32923, a
Dennis Trident
with Plaxton
President body, in
Uxbridge on the
607 in 2010.BELOW LEFT:
Metroline
DEL2156, an
Alexander Dennis
Enviro200 MMC, in
Heathrow Central
Bus Station on
route A10.